Teamwork
by KJay99
Summary: A normal day of maintenance turns dangerous as Artie and Claudia have to prune back an out of control artifact.  Complete!
1. Chapter 1

As morning rose in South Dakota, Claudia reported for work in Artie's office.

She dragged herself in, hair slightly disheveled. _Why can't we start snagging and bagging at 10? _She thought as she threw her stuff on her side of the desk.

"Oh good you're here." came Artie's voice from the back of the room.

Claudia turned to see Artie pull out what looked like a blue garbage bag from a drawer and marched to his desk. He had apparently been in the office for some time already that morning.

"I have the report from the Warehouse diagnostic." He snatched a paper off of his desk and shoved it into Claudia's hands as he passed her. "I have a list of repairs for you to make today" he said.

She read the paper and saw repairs, but also a list of random artifacts in the warehouse.

"What's this? Artifacts?"

"The ones listed, yes. I need you to check on those separately." Artie caught Claudia's blank stare and stopped walking.

"Check on the artifacts _first_. Just make sure they are behaving. _Then_ repair." He explained.

"Behaving?" _Maybe I should start drinking coffee, s_he thought.

"Well… that they are where they're supposed to be." He tried to slow down and explain. "Look. No shelf hopping. NO touching each other!" he emphasized. "Only mild twinging and movement." He sighed at her dull look. _Maybe she should start drinking coffee_, he thought. "Just go and look at them and use your judgment."

"My judgment?" Claudia repeated. She was slightly stunned. A bolt of pride straightened her shoulders. "Sure. Ok. Check on artifacts. Right! Pft! Sure!" She shot him a look. Was the old crabby Artie swapped with this new Artie that suddenly trusted her judgment? She wondered when that happened. She cleared her throat and referenced the paper and read the repairs to be done. "Video displays are out?"

"Yeah. They came back as listed errors on the diagnostic." said Artie with his head buried in the back corner of the office. He came up with a tool that had been pried under the filing cabinet to keep it from wobbling. He examined it and threw it into his bag.

"We still have some spares right?" Claudia started a mental inventory of the supplies that she needed. Opening a drawer in the filing cabinet she pulled out her tool belt. "Hey you know this wobbles?"


	2. Chapter 2

Artie laid on a warehouse map with his glasses on the top of his head. He took a sip of coffee and put his mug down on the map of the warehouse to hold down the curling edge. Purple lines were superimposed over warehouse rows and matched with red and blue lines in places. He pulled his glasses down from his head to peer at his computer screen which showed the same area but with pulsating yellow alert areas. He frowned and traced a purple and red line with his finger.

Claudia entered the room holding two spare video monitors and a fully stocked tool belt.

"Displays- check!" She had a thought and dug through a large toolbox. "Welding torch- check!"

"Are you bringing the plasma gun?" Artie said without looking up.

"You think I should?" Claudia pulled out a small glue gun with a bright blue glass handle.

"It might come in handy. Oh- and here." Artie tore himself from his map to pull out his protective goggles and handed them to Claudia who ogled. "They take up less room than that full mask. Take care of them!" he ordered.

"I will!" Claudia packed everything into a backpack as Artie watched thoughtfully.

Claudia glanced at Artie twice but said nothing. Maybe if she waited, the old curmudgeon would say something without snapping for once.

"You're bringing neutralizer?" Artie said.

"Wasn't going to…. You think I should bring some?"

He nodded. "I'll be working on clearing a blocked neutralizer supply pipe. I may have to stop the flow of neutralizer in some sections. I'll feel better if I know that you have some goo on you. Er—" not wanting to alarm Claudia unnecessarily just because *he* once had a bad experience, he added "Just in case." But Claudia was half a step ahead and held up two empty glass cylinders ready for goo. She smiled. Apparently she had considered the idea before he did. Artie nodded, "Good, good."

"Oh. I listed the sections that you have to go to- in order." He handed Claudia yet another piece of paper and she tried to translate his scribble. He started talking across the room before she realized that she was suppose to follow him to the warehouse map on the wall. She jogged after him.

"If you follow that you should save some time. You can start here in this section." He pointed to a blue coded area on the map. "Check on the Mask of Zonorobo. It likes to uh.." he glanced at her. "-laugh. _Mostly_ harmless… just make sure that it hasn't _moved_!" He traces his finger across to a coded yellow section and stopped to look at her. "Did you bring the watering can from Leena's?"

Taken a bit aback from the rapid change of subject Claudia stammered "Um.. yeah. I did. What's it for?"

"Ah! Good. Ok- take that with you. You'll need it. You can fill it up downstairs. That will go with you to this section- row 118. You can take care of 4 artifacts here. THEN you can hit-" Artie jerked the map which retracted and pulled down another map of another section of the warehouse. He traced his finger through some rows. "row 347-349. Which brings you back… to the office… or – or close enough." He sighed at the end of his presentation, satisfied. Then he saw the lost look on Claudia's face. "That's…that's the fastest way that I've found…. Um- to do it." He paused and looked at her again, reconsidering sending her into the warehouse alone.

"You have your Farnsworth?"

Claudia snapped out of her daze. "Yup!" She patted a pouch that she made to hold her Farnsworth on her tool belt so she could have it near while doing repairs. _Come on Claudia-you can do this! Somehow…_ "Ok- Blue, yellow, 347-9, 118- and… " She looked and located the can. "Watering can!"

"118 THEN 347-9!" barked Artie.

"Ok! 118 then 347-9!" responded Claudia with no real idea of how to do any of this.

Artie put his hand out. Claudia looked up to see that he was holding out a pocket sized map of the warehouse with her route outlined.

_You dolt_! She smiled, relieved. "Thanks." She smirked and took the map.

"Hey- Where will you be?" she said.

"I'm going to be in late 1700's section." he said. "There's a pressure alert in the neutralizer line. Hey help me with this will you?" After a few minutes, Claudia and Artie managed to pull a plastic looking blue jumpsuit over Artie's clothes.

"You're going to bake in this thing!" she says.

"Nonsense!" he responded. "I'll be right next to the cool section." He hastily added, "It's where we keep the biological artifacts. The ones that create flesh eating trees, the rapid growing bean seeds, stuff like that. The temperature is kept near 40 degrees. That helps to keep the artifacts from growing or germinating or whatever they do. Well the neutralizer does that too of course."

Claudia didn't hear a word past flesh eating trees. "Trees and beans?"

"Oh you've heard of them." He paused. "Jack and the Beanstalk?"

"We have THOSE Beans? Hold up- what about the giant?"

"Oh please- you can't believe everything you read." he brushed past her to gather the rest of his blue protective outfit.

A short time later Claudia left Artie's office and started on her seemingly endless tour of Warehouse 13. She readjusted her _really_ heavy pack and started walking into the aisles.

"Right- Yellow, Blue 118, and water the what!" she said to herself.

"Claudia!"

She spun and spilled some water from the can. "Shoot… Yeah!" she shouted to a blue clothed Artie who was watching her from the banister of his office.

"Take the Edison car!" he yelled.

Artie shook his head. _ That girl_.


	3. Chapter 3

"302-115… 302-115…"

Claudia scanned the warehouse shelves for the next artifact on her list.

"115!" She stopped at a rather plain looking white vase.

"Aaanndd… nothing. Great… checked." She crossed off the tenth artifact on her list and read the next.

"303-107 Water the Omli-got-ford." Claudia made a face. "The what?"

She grabbed the watering can that she brought all the way from Leena's and halfway across the warehouse on the Edison car. She tracked down the 107 number and saw a bucket of water half way empty. Claudia read the video monitor.

"Omligotford. Eats oxygen from surrounding atmosphere." Claudia visibly flinched. "_'Eats'?"_

She carefully, slowly peered into the half empty bucket of water.

"OH! Nasty one!" Backing off she hastily filled the bucket to the top with water from Leena's watering can and got away as fast as possible. "One nasty, watery, oxygen eating artifact down!" She emphatically crossed it off of her list.

(elsewhere)

Artie managed to disassemble the piping carrying neutralizer to the 1770-1780 section. He stood perched atop a very high ladder that allowed him to access the top of the row where the piping ran. Literally in neutralizer up to his elbows, his blue protective suit kept out the hallucinogenic effects of the purple goo. Or so he hoped.

He shoved a cork plug into the piping and punched buttons on a hand held electronic box wired to the cork. The device started pumping air into the pipe to track down the clog in the system. Artie frowned at the results. He pulled out the cork in frustration. As high up as he was, the movement made the long ladder shudder and sway. Artie instinctively grabbed the ladder with one hand and a shelf with the other. His panicked heart beat faded from his ears just in time to hear a "plink plink". He looked way, way down to see a wrench that he dropped during his desperate clutch.

A small voice laughed. "Ha! Haw…!"

Artie looked over at the shrunken head laughing at him.

"Oh be quiet!" he snapped. "You take away just a little neutralizer and they think they know everything!" he grumbled.

He sighed and started down the really, really long ladder.

Artie set his feet on the warehouse floor again several minutes later. A little breathless, he sat down on a nearby crate and wiped sweat from his brow. Out of habit, he made a mental evaluation of the nearby shelves out of habit. Everything seemed to be in place. Then his eye caught something of interest.

An unusual look passed over Artie's face. He stood and slowly walked over to a shelf. He found himself staring at a normal looking piece of rope. Long lost memories came tugging back. This was a favorite artifact of a fellow agent, Ian. Ian was the senior agent when Artie started at the Warehouse. The rope was originally owned by a telekinetic in India. It became imbued with his mental energies and able to move on its own. The rope was discovered by an explorer and scientist who acquired it by means unknown. The explorer owned it for years and found it appropriate to transfer the personality of his favorite dog to the rope. More than just another artifact, the rope became sort of a pet in the office and would come when called. It was often around Ian and was a part of Artie's early Warehouse memories.

Artie thoughtfully ran his finger around the coils of the rope. It shuddered and raised its end almost out of curiosity. It curled around Artie's hand as if it recognized him. Artie knew that he was now linked to the rope in a small way, but he was also linked back to Ian and the early days that he had nearly forgotten.

After giving himself a few minutes, he shook himself from his revere. Artie picked up his discarded wrench and eyed the top of the ladder. The indications from the cork test made him strongly suspect that the plug was further down the neutralizer line. He lifted his glasses and rubbed his eyes in frustration. The agent racked his mind for other options but found none less dangerous. Sighing, he went over to the control unit at the end of the row. Artie held his breath as he pressed the button turning off the neutralizer supply for the neighboring biologic section.

(On yet another aisle)

Claudia walked up yet another aisle in the warehouse with her list of chores.

"Video display repair woman! Knock knock!" she called. She located the faulty video display and squared herself in front of it to determine the problem. The display showed the artifact for a moment then static interrupted the image. Claudia smacked the side and the image cleared. She waited. The static returned, making the display unreadable.

"Finicky display. Say hello to my little friend!" She whipped out the wielding torch from her tool belt and got to work on the display.

(elsewhere in the Warehouse)

A loud rolling sound echoed through the warehouse as Artie pushed his ladder cart through the aisles. He watched the very top of the rows, following the pipes of neutralizer. Stopping the cart, he circled around a corner, craning his neck. He then came back to the ladder cart and snatched his map off of it. After referencing the map, he started to set up the massive ladder.

Artie made sure that the ladder was positioned just where he wanted it. Then he lowered the support legs off of each side, deployed a lever and locked them in place. He deftly spun a set of weights in the middle of the wide base of the ladder as he walked by. They spun and started to power each other. They continued to spin themselves faster and faster, becoming a perpetual motion machine. Artie moved to the side of the ladder and hooked a heavy weight on a hook that was coming from the piece of the cart that would be the top of the ladder. He made sure that the weight was attached securely to a rope and put the rest of the rope on the floor so that it could be drawn up without tangling.

The ladder cart lifting machine changed pitch. Artie went to the front of the cart where the wide base was. He flipped a lever engaging the lifting drive and pressed a button twice. The back of the cart started to rise. A narrow ladder rose into the air carrying the weight and a pulley with it. Artie made sure that the ladder was deploying properly and gave the driving weights one more spin. He then sat on a crate and studied his map of the neutralizer distributing system. That clog was somewhere around here and he would have to find it. The sooner the better too. Turning off the neutralizer system was definitely a way to turn his hair even greyer.

The ladder lifting machine changed pitch again as it strained under the increasing weight of the ladder. It continued to lift 5 foot sections of ladder further up the rows of artifacts. Each ladder segment slid along each other, locking into place at the ends, making a single unit once extended.

Artie walked over and gave the weights one final spin to help power the machine. He monitored the ascending ladder but his brain was on the clog. When he judged the ladder was just past his needs, he pressed and held a button. The machine sighed and was quiet. He pumped a lever and locked it in place. Artie rolled up the map and stuffed it in his ever present bag. He rechecked his tools, tossing a few more items in his bag, then made sure the bag was secured to the rope. He pulled blue gloves out of his pocket and tossed those in the bag as well then set the bag on the floor by the ladder. He took a deep breath and started climbing.


	4. Chapter 4

Claudia held her list of chores before her, referencing it. She readjusted her heavy parts pack as she examined artifact numbers on the shelves. She tried to keep her mind on the busted video monitors, but couldn't help reading some artifact details as she went by.

"'Talk to birds.' Kewl! 'Grow hair really fast.' Um… not so much…" She strolled down the aisle passing a portrait of a man whose eyes followed her. "Okay. That's not totally creepy…" She hurried past. Claudia looked up, turned around and found her broken video monitor.

She slid the monitor out and popped out the back to reveal the internal electronics. She flinched. The electronics were blackened. "Well, yeah.. hm.. that would do it!" She brought out a tool to remove the power cables that were welded to the insulated power source that ran through the shelves. Once removed, she dumped the fried monitor and retrieved the spare from her pack. She donned Artie's protective goggles and started welding the new monitor in place.

"Excusez moi."

Claudia jerked her head up and tried to look around through the dark goggles. She stopped welding and snapped up the shielded lenses.

"Excuse me. What year is this?" came a voice.

Claudia whipped her head around trying to find the person speaking to her. She ripped the goggles off of her head and stopped to listen. Artie told her to be careful on her own in the warehouse and her nerves were now on high alert.

"I don't mean to startle you - but can you tell me the year? Hellooo!" said a small voice in a heavy French accent.

Claudia tracked down the voice to the portrait whose eyes followed her before. She peered inside the frame and saw a neatly dressed man looking out.

"Ah! Zer you are! I saw you working" the man said. "I hope you don't mind, but what year is this?" The portrait speaking was a middle aged man. He was moving and talking, but was very clearly made of paint.

"Uh- 2010." Claudia answered automatically.

The man said, "Has it been that long?" more to himself than Claudia. "So much that I have missed. Zertainly changes in fashion…" the man squinted to get a better look at Claudia's clothes through the painting.

Claudia was suddenly a little self conscious of her normally kicking wardrobe.

"I am glad you are fixing that picture." Claudia followed his movement and realized he was talking about the display. "It was very boring."

"You - you mean the display? You can read the displays?" The man nodded dismissively. "From your picture?" said Claudia.

"Oh jes." He said in his accent. "But usually I have to try very hard to see, not like now. Now everyzing is very clear." Claudia looked around the top of the row of shelves. "No neutralizer…." She said out loud.

Claudia shook her head and imitated Artie "Claudia! We do NOT talk to the artifacts!" She turned back to the half installed video monitor. After a few seconds, her curiosity won out. She looked over her shoulder to see the man watching her from his painting. "What? I'm just going to fix this- then I can get out of your way."

"YOU are fixing that yes?" the man asked.

"Uh- yeah! And I'm nearly done, so I'll just get back to work now…" said Claudia trying to end the conversation.

"It is unuzual to send such a young lady to fix zings yes?"

Claudia turned to face the painting. Was this work of art insulting her technical skills? Because she did have a welding torch in her hands… "No. Not un-u-zial." She imitated the man's accent. "This is my job and I'm pretty good at it. So if you'll excuise moi." Claudia turned to her work again.

"Ah I have insulted you. I am sorry. It iz just zat you look so young for a warehouse agent."

Claudia stopped. The _painting knows about the warehouse? _she thought._ How much? Is this a trick? Or a test?_ She turned and evaluated the painting a second time, tilting her head in thought. "You know about the warehouse?"

"Well of course! I am in it after all! Am I not? "

"Uh, yes, you are. But, it's just that, none of the other artifacts seem to realize where they are." She mumbled, "Or can talk for that matter…"

"It is just what I am." the portrait shrugged. He cocked his head a little and asked. "Will you do a favor for me?"

Claudia's gut froze up. She knew it! _Artie was right! They just want to manipulate you! _

The man continued, "Ze sign over zere. It fell down a bit ago and makes the most shocking dizcharges of electricity when you least expect it." He turned his head to look beyond his own picture frame to the aisle across the way, behind Claudia.

Claudia frowned and turned. That certainly seemed pretty harmless… unless he _wanted_ Claudia to look away. She quickly looked back at the painting. He was just looking harmlessly at Claudia and then he pointed across the aisle. "Zat one. Ze one zat glows."

Claudia slowly backed away from the painting and looked at the shelf behind her. There was an artifact that was knocked down. She walked over and picked up a neon sign that read "Bill's Bar". It was unplugged but still glowed. Claudia sat the sign upright. On the shelf there were scorch marks. She figured that the energies from the sign went outwards. When it was face down, they must have been blocked until they built up enough energy to discharge all at once.

She returned to the painting after a thought. "You saw that fall?"

"No, I wasn't looking, but I heard it. After zat, very large electrical discharges would disturb everything on the shelves!" he leaned forward and lowered his voice. "Zome of these artifacts do not respond well to occasional electrical discharge." He winked. A smirk sneaked through Claudia's caution.

"So you can see stuff – outside I mean? Can you read this?" she pointed to the label on a crate right across from the painting.

"Of course I can read! And thank you for installing ze 'video monitors'! Zey are most interesting! I have had to entertain myself for years and years!"

"You read the monitors?"

"Jes! I was made for zat world." He considered for a moment. "Ze warehouse, it has changed much."

"It has?" Claudia looked around and considered the video monitors, the new security upgrades, and other things that the painting might have seen change like- oh- electricity. "Yeah I guess it has. A lot!"

"Well! I zink zey are improvements! Ze artifacts are much more secure now. Zey were always falling off or throwing zemselves around."

"How long have you been in here?" she felt like she was suddenly talking to a prisoner.

"Zoon after I was created. I was taken by warehouse agents. Oh zey found uses for me… I have been here … I am not sure. Last zing I saw was when zey were transporting me to zis warehouse. Zen ze purple fog came down and I could not see quite zo much. Just my own row." he peeked out of the frame again as if to demonstrate.

Claudia, her caution long since abated, launched into an idea. "So - this monitor…" she crossed the aisle to the broken monitor. "How long has it been out?"

"For two weeks."

"Two weeks!" She added "What happened to it?"

"It started to go fuzzy- um- with lines after ze lightening."

"Static?"

"Hum?"

"Lines that break up the picture- its called static."

"Ah! Jes. Zen it was static. It was from zat sign. When it fell, zere was a very big lightning" he paused. "Zen zat man came by, but ze display looked normal zen."

"Man?" Claudia considered. "Do you mean Artie?" The painting shrugged. She said "Um, short, glasses, goatee… _old_." She considered the prim and proper figure in the painting. "A mess?"

"Ah Jes! Zat was him! Artie zen. Ze display started ze "static" after he went by. Ze lightning, it went from zere, to zere" he pointed. "It was a huge lightning. Ze display you are working on- zat one and zis one, zey both went out." The painting pointed to another display to the Claudia's left. She followed the finger. "Which one? This one?" she went to the next display. "This one?" The painting directed her to the correct display. She considered the video monitor. It seemed fine. It wasn't listed on her chore list from the warehouse diagnostic either. She looked at the painting who seemed to be encouraging her. She couldn't see any harm in giving it a once over. If the painting was trying to trick her in some way, he really stunk at it.

(Elsewhere)

Once at the top of the ladder, Artie stopped to catch his breath for the umpteenth time. After a few seconds, he unhooked the weight and dropped it. It dragged the rope through the pulley and started to lift his bag from the warehouse floor far below. Artie adjusted the tension on the pulley, slowing the rope. He then took a look around and started shifting the artifacts on the shelves around him to give him a workspace.

Artie was at the top shelf far from the warehouse floor. He was anxious to get the neutralizer flowing again. It wasn't enough that stopping the neutralizer gave every artifact in this section a little window to cause trouble, as remote as that might be, but he had to be constantly on alert for hallucinations that the neutralizer was known to cause.

He used a large wrench to remove a section of pipe and peered into it. A sharp sigh escaped him. He looked into the remaining pipe and installed the cork tester again. Artie caught something out of the corner of his eye. He stopped and looked but didn't see anything out of the ordinary, so he went back to work.

A few seconds later he saw something move again. This time Artie stopped dead. If an artifact was misbehaving then he needed to deal with it. If he was hallucinating, then he needed to know that too.

He gave it several seconds but saw nothing but boxes and artifacts. He slowly tuned back to his pipe, but his senses were on full alert.

The cork tester gave its results. This time Artie perked up. The clog was close. He reached into his bag for a tool.

Suddenly he felt a sharp pain on the back of his neck. His left hand instantly slapped his neck. Artie jerked his head up. He suddenly wanted off the ladder. He unhooked his safety harness and scrambled onto the nearby shelves. Facing outwards, he scanned the area. There was nothing that drew his eye.

Artie's brain went into Warehouse catalogue mode. He knew that there was an artifact that affected insects in the pupae stage that once resulted in a swarm of giant mosquitoes before agents bagged it. He thought he remembered reading that you could hear them before they bit you though. There was also an artifact blowgun, but that was halfway across the warehouse. He lowered his hand from his neck. Was this a hallucination? He looked down at his fingers and saw blood. His eyes scanned the shelves with increasing alarm. He racked his brain about artifacts in this area. _Wait-_ there was something on the edge of his memory. Then he remembered- the shelf across the aisle. Leena had recently moved an artifact there.

"Think!" he said out loud. Then he remembered. "Ah! The amulet." But he furrowed his brow and shook his head. Leena said that she had moved a simple amulet that supposedly made the wearer's bones unbreakable. Artie doubted that could be responsible. This must be a hallucination. He looked at his fingers again. His stomach churned at the sight of his own blood. He quickly flicked the blood away and wiped his hand on his pants. He needed to talk to someone not affected by the neutralizer. _Quickly._ Artie shoved his arm into his bag and pulled out his Farnsworth.


	5. Chapter 5

Claudia checked the back of the monitor then opened up a small panel in the back. She glanced inside the unit- there was blackening around the side of the power pack. _So-it is damaged, just like he said._ Claudia glanced over to the expecting painting. "Yeah- ok there's some damage." The painting nodded in satisfaction. She went back and retrieved some tools. She would have to use some parts from the other monitors to fix this one.

"So- you uh- can see everything that happens?" she said as she worked.

"In front of me jes."

"And you remember everything?"

"Jes."

"Everything?"

"Jes"

She thought for a second. "That must be really boring."

"Not so much. I am a painting. I know zis. I was given neither ego nor ambition. But I was given my home at least. Ze tings zat I see, they become part of me and my home."

Claudia looked over her shoulder to see the portrait glancing over his. In the background was a room that strongly resembled the rows of the warehouse. A few of the artifacts were loosely represented there as incomplete or fuzzy objects. The back doorway led to a hallway and yet more rooms. Outside the windows was a lovely view of what she supposed must be the French country side.

"Hu! That um…." She grunted with effort as the old unit slid free. "That looks nice."

He smiled. "It is."

"Is that the warehouse in there?"

"Part of it. Ze purple fog has kept most of the artifacts from fully materializing in here. I expect that a few may be completed now zat I can see."

"Oh." Claudia wasn't sure that she should tell him that the purple fog would come back as soon as Artie fixed the clog, as in any minute.

In short time Claudia replaced the unit and welded in the electrical connectors. She readdressed the painting. "So! Um… I'm sorry- what should I call you?"

"Pierre will be fine." He slightly bowed. The effect was a little three dimensional as he bowed towards the frame and Claudia and the rest of the outside world.

"Pierre. Claudia." She didn't want to get too friendly, but wanted some information. "So Pierre, tell me more about the lightning. Where did it go exactly?" She jumped nearly out of her skin when Pierre did something completely unexpected. He stood up.

Claudia watched the man get smaller as he walked to the back of his room to the replica warehouse rows. "Whoa…"

"I see some burn marks." He examined the little shelves in the painting. "Here, by the yo-yo, on the corner. Can you see this Claudia!" he raised his voice to make it out of the picture.

"Yes!" Claudia's head was close to the picture to see the little shelves in the background. It was a little difficult to make out details because the whole scene was only as accurate as the painter's brush. Pierre's little form kept making the strokes of color shift and move as he walked.

"Ok let me check!" She went over to the actual shelf represented in the painting. She moved past the artifacts that she saw in the painting, and found the yo-yo.

She ran her hands over the metal supports of the shelves and found the electrical discharge burn mark.

"Found it!" she hollered.

Just then an annoying buzzing started. She fumbled to get her Farnsworth out of her custom pack at her side.

"Yeah! Hello?" she said. A grey and white picture of Artie's face appeared.

"Hey." There was an awkward pause. "How's it going?"

"Fine!" Claudia shot a glance at the painting who she knew she shouldn't be talking to.

"Um- just fine! Installing displays and taking names!"

"That's great. Um… you haven't heard anything unusual have you?" Artie seemed more distracted than usual.

"Unusual?" Claudia thought. The word unusual took on a new meaning since she started at the warehouse. "There was this one artifact that yelled at me- but apparently that's because I have red hair. And then a chair was singing, I guess that's normal too…"

"Ok, ok! Um… no buzzing?"

"Buzzing, like the Farnsworth?"

"No…. no- like um…. Like large insects." Claudia could tell that Artie was hiding something. Usually when Artie hid something it was something bad.

"Insects? Like bees? Or Wasps? Artie do we have wasps?"

"What? No no no… no wasps, at least I don't think we have wasps- mosquitoes m… maybe…" his voice trailed off as he scanned the ceiling of the warehouse.

"Artie? Are you ok?"

"What? Yeah… Yeah. Ok- I just wanted to check in. Keep me posted." The screen went black abruptly.

(Elsewhere)

Artie snapped the Farnsworth closed. He wasn't sure what was going on, but he knew that he _had_ to get that neutralizer flowing again. He didn't want to think about what would happen if he kept the neutralizer off for much longer. Artie took another nervous glance around. He cautiously grabbed the ladder and climbed back onto it.

As he worked, Artie tried to keep an eye out for trouble. What he didn't see was a slender, green feeding tube silently extend a few shelves below him. It reached the discarded drop of blood and dipped it's sharp tip in. It sipped up the drop and funneled it down it's length. The tube then withdrew, coiling up on its self like a phone cord.

A green vine extended toward the only heat source that it sensed. It curled along different hard items that it came across but continued toward the heat. Heat meant something living. Heat meant food. It brushed a light object which slid. The heat moved suddenly and the vine froze. After a moment, the vine sensed that the heat returned to normal movements. Part of the heat was hidden inside of a pipe.

Powered by the small drop of blood, the vine now had a little energy to invest in getting more. It was joined by two others. They were given the order. In unison they slid across the aisle towards the heat.

(Back to Claudia)

Claudia snapped her Farnsworth closed and thought hard.

"Claudia!" Pierre called.

"Yeah…" Something was bothering her. She hated when Artie got distracted like that. Last time that happened he suddenly sent Pete and Myka to Azerbajian. She reached a decision.

"Pierre- I'll be right back." She put a few tools into her pack for safe keeping. "Um… can you keep an eye on things?"

Pierre smiled. "Jes. It is what I do."

"Okay. Ok! Great!" She looked around again and grabbed a tool that she deemed a little too dangerous and stuffed that in her bag then left it all on the floor. "I'll be right back!" She turned and left for the Artie's section.


	6. Chapter 6

The pipe shook for 20 feet in either direction as Artie resorted to brute strength to clear the clog. His left arm was engulfed up to his shoulder as he tried to get a grip on the clog with his tools. He didn't notice the vines silently stretching across the aisle behind him. They reached out for his body heat, to surround him, and bring him back. They were guided to not strike out yet, but to surround and subdue. A green vine sneaked up the leg on Artie's blue suit, but couldn't easily get through his pant leg. Another one wrapped itself around his safety harness and one started to carefully curl around his back and under his right arm.

Artie felt the clog finally start to give. It gave out with a tug from the agent. Artie pulled out his arm and the cork screw that was firmly lodged into a large purple clump. The clog came from the pipe with a wet, sucking sound. Artie extracted his cork screw with difficulty. He dumped the clump of neutralizer into his hanging five gallon bucket. It splashed into the neutralizer that was already drained from the pipe.

Using his arm to shield himself from the splash, something caught Artie's eye across the aisle. He lowered his arm and then his jaw. In stark contrast against the drab of the warehouse was a stream of vibrant green vines coming from the shelf behind him. They were all moving. Unfortunately they were moving toward _him_. "Oh…" came out more as a groan.

He was in trouble and he knew it.

After the initial second of shock, Artie moved into action. He unhooked his harness from the ladder and realized that the vines were closer than he thought. Then he saw a leaf on his shoulder. He struck out at it with the only thing he had in his hand, the cork screw. He ripped the leaf, but the effect seemed minimal. His feet moved to get down the ladder but he only made it two rungs when he was stuck.

Confused, he pulled on the ladder to bring himself down. His safety harness was stuck on something. He cranked his neck and saw that the vines had already wrapped themselves around his harness. He tried to free himself but the harness was locked tight against his weight. A vine approached him. Artie froze. He tried not to provoke the situation but held up the cork screw in defense. He felt like there wasn't a more useless weapon in the whole warehouse. Suddenly a feeder tube slashed out, stabbing his hand. He reacted. He swiped the cork screw through the air and slashed off a piece of the vine and feeder tube. Then he felt a sharp pressure and pain in his shoulder and leg. The rest of the vines came alive. He swatted away a vine that got too close, but two more replaced it. One wrapped around his bleeding hand. It pumped itself up until the pressure made Artie drop the cork screw with a yelp.

The old warehouse agent fought what he knew was a losing battle. A sharp tube stabbed at his face before he could move. It broke the clear plastic on his safety goggles. The tube recoiled and struck again. Artie turned his head just in time. The barb missed but took a chunk out of his ear. Artie grabbed the tube just behind the barb. He pulled and twisted and felt a pop. He dropped the tube to try to untie the vine that was squeezing his right arm like a vice. His mind raced for options. He realized that he hadn't hit the floor yet even though he was jerked off his ladder. He bumped against a shelf and saw that he was being drug **up** the shelves across the aisle. More vines wrapped around his chest and legs. Feeder tubes slashed at his blue neutralizer suit. They were sharp but rarely got through the multiple layers of clothes. He ripped a vine away from his throat and caught sight of the amulet that Leena relocated. His right arm had lost feeling and was becoming unusable. His could feel a vine squeezing so tight that it was cutting through his pants into his thigh.

He could see that something was controlling the vines. They moved with a purpose. If they were to taking him somewhere, that might be the only chance that he would have to neutralize the artifact responsible.

Artie changed tactics. He relaxed. He decided that the vines were definitely taking him somewhere. Artie figured he would try to convince them to take him in one piece rather than in a hundred. As he was being drug over the top, he was able to let his left hand drag across the shelf. He felt the amulet and grabbed it. Using a technique that Leena insisted that he learn, Artie took a deep breath and lowered his heart rate.

(Elsewhere)

Claudia rounded a turn in the electric Edison car. She came up the row where Artie was working. She stopped the car by the ladder and looked up. "Artie?" she called. "HEY Artie!" She looked around but didn't see any sign of her boss.

She stood in the car and looked around. "Artie?"

In the middle of the aisle was a corkscrew covered in neutralizer. Claudia was considering it when she heard a sliding sound and turned around sharply. She was faster without the car, so she jumped off and hurried towards the sound.

Claudia thought that Artie had just gone to the next row over. When she turned the corner, she saw only a row of artifacts. But then her sharp eye did see something. She walked over to the bit of color and picked it up. It reminded her of a blue garbage bag.

Then her eyes widened. "Artie's suit!" she said out loud. She looked around. Up on the shelves were scattered shreds of the blue material. It seemed there were bits of blue all the way up to the very top shelf.

Claudia got a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. "What the…?" _Was he ripped to shreds by… what…..? A pterodactyl? What is going on!_ The scraps of the blue material also littered the next aisle over. Claudia ran down the rows looking down each aisle following the blue trail.

A few rows later Claudia's neck was starting to stiffen from scanning the top shelves for fragments of blue. She skidded to a stop on one aisle. She walked down the aisle, but saw no blue. At the end she backtracked and picked up the blue trail again. It didn't go across this row, but down it.

She jogged down the aisle. Keeping her eyes to the top shelf, she thought that she saw something green move. Claudia picked up her pace as she zigzagged one aisle over then down one.

_There!_ At the very top of the aisle there was something moving. She stopped a little breathless and strained her eyes. _What __**is**__ that?_ Her throat tightened and a cry of alarm came out as a squeak when she recognized Artie's sneaker slip over the top shelf.

"_Artie!" _Claudia sprinted to the next row.

She slipped as she turned the corner; then stopped dead.

Where there was suppose to be a never ending row of artifacts hung a green jungle.

The hanging vines stopped a few rows above her head, but they came from the top shelf which was completely engulfed in wiggling green vines and leaves. It looked like a waterfall of green down the shelves of the warehouse.

Claudia gasped. "Hoooly…."


	7. Chapter 7

She evaluated the wall of moving vines. Claudia knew Artie was up there but had no idea what to do about it. "Screw it!" she said. She climbed on top of a crate and grabbed on to the next highest shelf. Using the central supports she climbed even with the lowest hanging vines. She grabbed one to help her up but let go quickly when it moved. She stared at it and suddenly wondered if her approach was- _How would Artie put it? Ah yes- stupid._ She was answered when a feeding tube swiped at her, tearing the shirt on her forearm. "Hey!" she protested. The barbed tube then stabbed at her hand. "OW!"

Claudia let go and dropped a few shelves to the warehouse floor. She wiped the blood away and squeezed her hand to stop the bleeding. "Ok. This changes things." she said. The vines lowered themselves and created a wiggling wall of defense in front of her. One vine slowly slipped towards her. Torn between running for help and not abandoning her boss, Claudia held her ground. She watched as the leaf carefully cupped her drop of blood up from the floor. It gracefully arced and maneuvered the drop to roll down towards it's stem. The stem turned red as the drop was absorbed into it's pores. Claudia's eyes went wide with understanding.

Breathing hard in excitement, she slowly backed up from the threat. She knew that as it was she couldn't do anything against the vines. She had no weapon on her either. _What am I going to do? Plier them to death? _She also knew that she had to help Artie. She needed something. She kept backing up until she thought was out of range of their grasp.

"Think Claudia! Where am I?" She knew there had to be something of use in the warehouse. She located her row number then racked her brain. Suddenly she remembered Artie's map. She drew it out of her pocket. She eyes went wide with recognition. "Score…." She started off at a dead sprint to the blade storage area.

(In the blade storage area)

Claudia skidded past the entrance, stumbled and doubled back. Breathless from her run, she smiled at the rows of deadly bladed weapons.

"Niiiice!" she breathed. She passed up poled weapons taller than she was for the shorter sword section. "Ok! Come on- useful!" she cheered. She started reading labels. Last thing she wanted was to get in more trouble than she already was by grabbing the wrong artifact.

"'Traps user in handle" N-no. 'Increases bloodlust" Pass. 'Makes wielder go insane', 'Causes blindness' Seriously?" she cried in frustration. The next in line were knives. She was drawn to a particularly wicked looking curved knife and prayed a little as she read the label. "'Never needs sharpening.' Good enough!" She grabbed the knife.

She took one last look around when she saw it. She knew instantly that this was her weapon. There, standing out from all the other impressive looking blades was a worn wood cutter ax.

"Level up!" she whispered.

Claudia approached wide eyed. She just _knew_ this was what she was looking for. She read the artifact's note card. "'Instantly kills trees.'" An evil grin spread over Claudia's face. She pulled a set of locking pliers from the magnetized portion on the side of her tool belt. The wicked looking knife elegantly curved around her hip when she attached it to the magnet. Her freed hands reverently reached out for the ax. It was heavy but not overly so, and was well balanced in her hands. A savage look emerged in Claudia's eyes. She spun and faced the direction of the vines. Her lip curled.

"Time for some pruning."

(Elsewhere)

By using Leena's technique, Artie was able to lower his breathing and heart rate. He closed his eyes to help counter his panic. The vines responded by releasing the pressure squeezing the agent. Artie concentrated to remain calm against the pain that returning circulation brought to his limbs. He tried to keep count as he was bumped against shelves then drug over the top of the rows but he lost all reference when the vines seemed to change directions.

Artie decided to risk a peek to try to figure out where he was headed. He opened his eyes only to see the warehouse floor far below. His heart rate jumped and the vines responded by tightening their grip. Artie grimaced and shut his eyes again. His heart rate was slowing, but his brain was in full gear. From his glimpse, he was able to tell that he was heading south in the warehouse. _What is down there to cause this? _His thoughts raced through 30 years of artifact collecting and maintaining. He remembered the feeder tubes that collected his blood and instantly he knew. His eyes flicked open. "The Matis Jaguar" he whispered.

The Jaguar was a wooden figure from the Matis Indian Tribe from the Amazon. Although they were fierce warriors, they had one member who was insanely brutal. He turned cannibal and the tribe's Shaman had no choice but to entrap him in a figurine using the energies of the forest. But the Jaguar retained the cannibal's taste for blood. The energies the Shaman used to create the artifact also gave it influence over plant life. Artie had no idea how a plant got into the warehouse or how it came in contact with the Jaguar. This vine looked like a version of a vine commonly found in homes and offices, but this one was clearly twisted by the artifact. Not that it mattered though. He knew that the Jaguar had to have physical contact with the plants to control them. If he could somehow separate the plant from the artifact, that would break its influence. Exactly how he would do that, Artie had no idea.


	8. Chapter 8

Claudia turned the corner to face the vines with her new toys. She walked up to within a few feet of the vines. "You gonna let him go-" she asked the plant, "or do you want a piece of me?" She gripped the ax handle with anticipation.

The vines seemed to amass themselves in response.

"Ok" she said. "Have it your way!" She charged in and swung the ax at the nearest vine and missed spectacularly. She swung at the next nearest one and buried the ax in a crate box. Although the vines were relatively slow, she swung the ax slower. She dodged a brush from a vine but a feeder tube slashed out at her, ripping her pants.

Claudia retreated out of range from the vines. "Not good!" She evaluated the scratch on her calf and dismissed it. She was just too slow with the ax. She wondered how much damage she could do to a swirling mass of vines with her knife when she wiped the sweat from her brow.

Suddenly she looked at her right hand. It was at the top of the ax hilt.

The evil grin returned.

Claudia ran back into battle with her hands spaced at each end of the ax hilt instead of both at the bottom. Moving much quicker now, Claudia pegged a vine between a steel shelf support and the ax. The bottom part of the vine dropped to the floor. Claudia held her breath a little as she waited a long second to see what the artifact would do. The vines seemed to stop in anticipation too.

A brown color started to rise up the vine from where the ax had chopped it. Claudia watched the color rise all the way up the shelves.

"Bonus."

She turned to face the other vines.

(Back up top)

The vines' rate of movement slowed. Artie figured that his travel was coming to an end. His relaxation had loosened the vines enough to allow him to slip the amulet over his neck. Now he had to figure out how to remove the plant from the artifact. He opened his eyes.

The agent was shocked at how quickly the artifact got the vines to grow. Ahead of him was a wiggling forest of green leaves, vines and sharp feeding tubes. He hadn't figured out what to do if he encountered the spikes before the artifact. Artie caught sight of the wooden jaguar, but it was well protected behind the spikes and vines. His heart rate spiked with adrenalin as Artie knew his options just evaporated. The vines reacted. Several feeder tubes rose up in preparation to strike. Artie's right arm was still entangled, so he raised his left arm to fend off the likely fatal strike.

But the strike never came. The feeder tubes hesitated in the strike position.

Just as Artie started to wonder what was going on, one of the vines attached to the artifact suddenly turned brown and died. The feeder tubes and several vines withdrew. Artie watched as they unraveled from him to descend off the side of the top shelf towards the floor of the warehouse.

He didn't waste his opportunity. Artie made a fist and punched the dead vine. It fell away from the artifact opening up some space. He grabbed another vine and pulled. It snapped once but stayed firmly attached to the Jaguar. He would need a large jerking force to get the vines off. Artie racked his brains for options. Then he took a deep breath and yelled.


	9. Chapter 9

On the warehouse floor Claudia wasn't sure that she was winning the fight. The vines were slow, but the sharp feeder tubes were faster. They managed to nick her quite a few times and ripped her clothes quite a bit. She swung and caught a vine in mid air as it was reaching for her. She didn't wait to watch this one turn brown, but turned and axed another one slinking on the floor. She swung but missed one and struck a crate box. As she struggled to free it a tube stabbed her shoulder. She screamed in shock and pain. Her hand automatically went to her belt and she swiped the knife upwards slicing the tube in half. She quickly freed the ax and backtracked to re-evaluate.

A long length of brown vine fell to the floor.

Claudia took that as a sign. Then she heard another one. It was Artie's voice. It screamed "SAM!"

Claudia risked a look up. Her face broke out into a grin. He was still alive! Then she saw what looked like a long snake span the space between the row behind her to where the vines seemed to be coming from.

_Maybe it's a plant eating snake_ she hoped.

Whatever was happening up there, she was going to take care of business down here. She wielded the ax again and headed back to the vines.

(Top again)

Artie tried to calm himself as much as possible so as not to alarm the artifact. For the time being it seemed distracted and only held him loosely. He had to wait long seconds before his yell paid off. Behind him, the rope, Saamp, came as called. Artie was never so grateful to see an artifact before. He grabbed the rope and began twisting its length around the Jaguar.

Just then another vine turned brown and died for some unknown reason that he didn't have time to figure out. Artie snapped that one off the figurine and wrapped the rope in it's place. He knew that he needed a gigantic pull to rip the artifact from the grip it had on the vines. He could think of only one way to get it. He gave himself some slack in the rope and got a good grip on both ends, letting the remainder fall loose. Artie took a deep breath and flung himself over the edge.

(Down below)

Another vine turned brown after being nicked by the artifact ax. The sweaty junior agent was holding her own against the vines, but she was tiring quickly. She caught movement and looked up. She saw Artie falling from the top shelf.

"NO!" she heard herself scream.


	10. Chapter 10

Artie fell for just a second until the slack in the rope went taut. But his weakened right hand couldn't hold on and the rope zipped through his left hand searing his palm. Before he could think anything else, he was suddenly swinging. He looked up. Saamp had wrapped itself around his left forearm, catching the agent mid air. Artie's eyes shone gratitude, but before he could do anything he heard a scream from below. Dangling, he looked down to see Claudia looking up.

"Claudia!" he breathed.

_She's here!_ Artie looked up and saw that the vines were still attached to the Jaguar artifact. _No!_ He didn't stop it and now Claudia would be the next victim. He closed his eyes in agony.

Then he had a thought. Looking around he saw the other end of the rope engaged with a vine. "Come!" he ordered. The rope obeyed and floated over to the agent.

Not trusting his right hand anymore, Artie wrapped his forearm in the rope. Saamp seemed to understand and tightened its coils. Artie walked his legs up to the shelf in front of him until he was horizontal.

_This has to work! If I'm lucky I just might survive_ he thought.

With a jerk Artie pulled with all the strength in him. He heard a series of snaps.

Then suddenly he was falling.


	11. Chapter 11

Time seemed to slow as Claudia watched Artie fall. As he landed, a thud echoed through the warehouse. Then it was as if someone turned him off like a light. Artie crumpled to the ground and didn't move.

"_ARTIE!_" Claudia screamed and ran to his side. She dropped the ax which allowed her to get there half a millisecond sooner.

_His legs must be broken… _

"Artie!"

.. _and his back._

"Artie!"

She was terrified to touch him. He didn't move at all. She jumped as a length of rope landed on the floor followed by a wooden figurine.

Claudia instantly realized that this was the artifact responsible. It still had a few young plants springing from it. They were wiggling in panic. Claudia stood and slowly walked over to her ax. She picked it up by the end of the handle.

_**This** is responsible. It is dangerous. _

She dragged the ax to the artifact.

_It hurt Artie. _

She looked at it as tear fell down her face_. _

_It is wood._

"_You_" she said, her eyes narrowing. "This is the end for you." She raised the ax above her head and swung.

Her blow never fell. A blue and green figure grabbed the hilt of the ax stopping it mid swing. Claudia focused on the figure. "Artie!" He was pale and barely on his feet. He grabbed the ax away from her. "No." he said.

"Artie- that thing tried to kill you- tried to kill me!" Claudia protested.

Artie weakly nodded in agreement. "Goo it" he managed.

She didn't hesitate. Claudia reached around with both arms to the cylinders of goo at the small of her back. She jerked them free from their snaps and popped off both lids with her thumbs. She dumped the neutralizer on the artifact.

Claudia and Artie both flinched away from the bright light and sparks that came from the artifact. Claudia looked to make sure that there was no movement. The fledgling plants froze and fell off of the Jaguar. She finally exhaled.

Claudia's attention was back on Artie as he groaned and stumbled. "Whoa! I'll take that!" she took the ax from Artie and supported him to a crate to sit.

"Ow! Ow ow…" he cried.  
"Artie! You ok? What hurts?"

"Right now- everything!" he gasped. He ripped what remained of his blue suit from his neck and opened up the front of his shirt to reveal the amulet starting to meld with his flesh. He painfully peeled it from his chest and threw it into the puddle of neutralizer where it sparked and sputtered.

Artie took a few deep breaths and willed his head to stop spinning. He grabbed Claudia to get a good look at her. She was sweaty and well scraped up. He could see where the tears ran down her face. She looked like she was ok, but there was something else too. His eyes went wide when he saw the ax.

"Where's your gloves?" he said. Claudia grinned.

"I didn't really have time to get a spare set when I was running around fighting the Amazon."

"But the artifact…" he motioned to the ax.

"Saved our butts!" she interrupted, still smiling.

"No. I mean yes- but how many times do I have to _tell _you…"

"Yeah I know! But Artie-" she stopped short.

"Claudia?" He jumped up looking at her hard. She looked at her hands. A black color started creeping up under her nails.

"ohh… Ow! Oh no…" she cried.

Artie ripped the ax from Claudia's hands. He slid the head into the puddle of goo. After it stopped sparking, he turned to evaluate Claudia.

"It stopped." She sniffed. "I'm fine."

He held her hands and looked at them. "It may be reversible. Or-" he looked at her over his glasses. "you'll just never have to paint your nails again." Claudia tried to smile but failed. She shook her hands. They seemed to work. She looked at Artie. He was a bit pale and limped. She tried to smile again and this time succeeded.

"Come on." she said, "Let's get you back. Leena will kill me if I let anything happen to you. Well anything _else_..." she murmured.

Artie snorted a laugh. "If _you_ let anything happen to _me_?" he said.

"Yeah! Who else is going to turn my nails back to normal?" she waved her black nails at him.

"Well they might just turn back on their own." he grasped at optimism.

"You think?"

"I have no idea."

He allowed her to lead him away in the direction of his office.

**The End.**

_(But wait there's more!)_

_Feel free to read and review. Input helps me get better and helps you get more stories! _


	12. Bonus Chapter

_Ok- I have been requested by zombienath and prodded for a Bonus Chapter._

_(KJ rubbs a sore spot approximately the size of InuGhost2.0's boot.)_

_This is just almost purely fluff. Please don't expect any story development, or plot, or anything like that. This is just for fun at the request of you, the reviewers. I hope that you enjoy reading this as much as I did writing it._

Claudia helped Artie across several aisles towards the Edison Car. The old agent was limping along painfully so he didn't notice her modifications as he climbed up. He settled into the seat tenderly as the teenager swung up behind him into the driver's seat.

Claudia leaned forward and touched his shoulder from behind. "You ok?"

"Yup!" Artie grunted out, breathless from the walk. He closed his eyes and tilted his head back to relax. His eyes flew open when the car jerked forward and the tires squealed. His heart was suddenly in his throat as he was caught totally off guard. "_CLAUDIA!_"

Claudia was taken by surprise too. She jumped on the brakes which only threw her boss forward into the railing.

"Whoa! Stuck accelerator Artie I swear!"

"What… what did you do?" he hollered over his shoulder at her.

"Uh…. Nothing…" she squeaked out lamely.

"_Nothing_?" He turned in the seat to look at her behind him. He lowered his voice to a low growl that made Claudia grimace more than his shouts. "This car runs on electricity produced from **two** humans. TWO!"

He stared at the red head who could only sit there and swallow hard.

"How many batteries did you hook up?" he growled.

Claudia smirked and grimaced. "uh… three…" Her voice was suddenly two octaves higher.

Artie sucked in his breath to yell again, but caught himself. He closed his eyes as his blood pressure spiked. Claudia held her breath to see if he was going to spontaneously combust.

With a great effort Artie spoke through his teeth. "one" he took a deep breath and opened his eyes. "One battery." He said deadly calm.

Claudia's eyes were wide in alarm. She would rather that he yelled at her. She gulped audibly. "Yes sir!" She hopped off the car and unhooked two of the three batteries giving the electric car its extra horse power. She ducked as spark flew when she re-hooked up the last battery. In short order she hopped back into the driver's seat, both hands on the steering wheel, staring at her boss for permission to continue.

Artie stared at her hard from his sideways position in the front seat. "One?" He held up one finger to reemphasize.

Claudia nodded quickly. "One!"

The senior agent released another breath. He turned forward again, flinching when his right arm didn't quite clear the back end. Claudia slowly stepped on the accelerator and the electric car gently chugged forward.

(A Little Later)

A few rows later Claudia turned the now gently moving car right, down an aisle.

Artie set up straighter. "Left. Claudia left." He pointed to the left.

Claudia brought the car to a stop. "Artie, this is the fastest way to the office." She reached for her map that she managed to hold on through the whole day and referenced it.

"No, no, no, no… the pipe." Artie used both hands to gesticulate his point.

Claudia was incredulous. "Artie! I'm getting you to the office." She started to move the car again.

"_Claudia_!" Artie's voice had a frantic edge to it that made her stop the car again. "We_ have_ to get that neutralizer flowing or that vine… will be the least of our worries."

She considered for a brief second more. Artie was right. She briefly weighed the potential threat against her concern for her boss. "Bah! Ok! Ok!" She cranked wheel around and turned the car to the left.

(A Small Car Ride Later)

Artie looked to the top row of the aisle as Claudia slowly drove the car up to the ladder. "Ok, ok. Here."

Claudia stopped the car and saw Artie starting to get off. "Artie! What are you…"

The old agent cringed as he moved toward the edge of the seat. "I'll just…." He gestured upwards. "You know."

"But you…"

He waved his hand dismissing her objection. "It's simple; just have to put it back together. Besides, I have the harness." The safety harness had survived the whole ordeal surprisingly well and was still over Artie clothes.

Claudia tilted her head in disbelief as she watched her boss struggle. He could barely walk and now he was fighting her to climb a huge ladder to the top row? _He's crazy!_ She shook her head and watched for the inevitable outcome of his stubbornness.

"Artie- just let me go up." She begged one more time.

He waved his hand at her again. He slid off of the seat and instantly his left leg gave out. He whimpered and grabbed the car for support, dragging himself back up.

"Ok you go up."

Claudia huffed at him and jumped down. They removed the safety harness from Artie and tightened it up significantly for Claudia's frame. Artie gave her instructions on reassembling the neutralizer pipe. As Claudia scaled the super sized ladder Artie called after her "Don't forget my bag!"

On the ground Artie took his time hobbling to the end of the aisle. Once he saw Claudia starting to descend the ladder he ran a diagnostic that tested the pressure in the system. A few seconds later he got a high pitched ding and a green signal. He quickly pressed a few more options on the screen and started the neutralizer flowing. He looked straight up at the pipe running at the top of the shelves. Everything appeared normal, which he confirmed on the system panel. Seeing that the neutralizer system was indeed operation once again, Artie felt stress fall away from him.

Claudia climbed down the ladder. She saw Artie slowly hobbling down the aisle, leaning on crates as he came upon them. He was waiting for her at the car when she made it down to the floor of the warehouse. The red head was out of breath from the long climb down and the grey head was breathless from his struggle down the aisle.

She stood beside him, both of them taking a second to catch their breath. The apprentice agent looked at her mentor and gave him a grin about their shared struggle. He threw his good arm around her and gave her a quick hug. In unison they both leaned back in exhaustion.

**Fin.**

_Thanks for reading._

_KJ~_


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